[Clinical pathways for non-acute neurological diseases as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]

Clinical pathways are integrated plans of tasks dedicated to obtain the major benefit for the patients, considering all aspects of the management, as the role of physicians and nurses and standardizing the procedures in forms and time. Their interest has grown since the developing of clinical management models. In neurological diseases their use has been restricted to acute phases, and in the case of chronic neurological diseases for specific techniques. The authors analyze the interest of the design and use of clinical pathways for chronic neurological diseases starting from the paper from Rodriguez de la Rivera et al. on a clinical pathway for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. For the authors, the specific differences between clinical pathways for acute neurological diseases and chronic diseases are changes in the design of temporal matrix using stages, multispeciality teams, the standardised access to social benefits and the role of case-manager, as professional who maintain a direct relation with patients. The authors also approach the setting difficulties in the development of clinical pathways that should be greater in the chronic neurological disease and suggest the role of scientific societies in their promotion.